One view ---

http://www.faithchick.com/ had this list of questions (answer them in their comments section or send them an e-mail and maybe you could be the "faithchick of the week). I'm not looking to be the anything-of-the-week. They looked like good questions though, so I "borrowed" them to answer them here:

1. Who are you? What's your passion? What makes you cuckoo?
2. Where do you live? Where do go to church? What do you do?
3. Who inspires you? What energizes you?
4. If you joined us for coffee, would you have: a) venti mocha, b) frothy frappaccino, c) green tea with honey or d) soy latte with cinnamon?
5. What version of the Bible do you read most? What's your favorite verse?

(I tried to get the permalink for you to their post with these questions, but ... I'm NOT a techno-dope but this time, I failed. Couldn't find the permalink even after clicking the word "permalink." Oh well. It's their Aug. 29, 2007, post if you care to go see the original.)

Okay, now for the answers.
1. Who am I? What's my passion? What makes me cuckoo?

You know, now I am wondering why I wanted to even think about answering these questions. I'm actually shy and don't like to draw attention to myself and generally I'm not very self-revealing until I get to know someone well enough to know if they meet my criteria to be considered "trustworthy" with my foibles and failings and hopes and dreams.

So, who am I? A phobe of sorts. Isn't that awful? This particular blob of DNA-scripted humanity answers to things like Susan, Sue, Su, Suse (rarely do I acknowledge Susie, though), or even "Hey you." My passion is -- hmm -- depends on the season or the month or the year -- it changes but things tend to reappear. Right now I am a writer, devouring space on the hard drive even faster than I destroyed nice clean white surfaces of notebook paper the last time I went through a writer "stage." It can quickly change back to hand-built pottery, doodling-is-my-art, quilting, crocheting, learning a new language, etc. I am made crazy by lies presented as truth and driven almost to the insane by the ease with which the liars get away with it.

2. Where do I live? Where do I go to church? What do I do?

I live in rural western Wisconsin, between Amery, Osceola, New Richmond and Balsam Lake -- in Garfield Township, just north of Wanderoos.
We bought our house about a year and a half ago. I left almost immediately after that to go be with my mom who was diagnosed with leukemia. I've been back here about a year (give or take a little time for a few trips back east to move things from mom's to here to get the house ready for sale), and we are still looking for a church home. A reader of one of my other blogs has suggested a church to visit and a building that has been for rent for a while just hung out a banner for a new church. Those two are definitely on my list of places to visit -- soon.
What do I do? **snicker** Ask my siblings and they'll say "nothing." But I write and actually have one WIP that has a very good possibility of being published as a serial novella; just have to finish it. I am also involved in direct sales of rubber stamps and supplies; plus actively making things for sale at autumn, winter and holiday craft sales. And there is a good chance that come next spring I will leave the direct sales company and start my own Internet-based rubber stamp company. Nothing like trying to juggle when even a Klutz(tm) book can't succeed in showing me how ... LOL!

3. Who inspires me? What energizes me?

Hmmm ... one of my inspirations has been Madeleine L'Engle and I was very sad to read this week that she had died. I may not always agree with everything I've read that she wrote, but I found her writing open and refreshing and full of insights.
I am inspired by the beauty of Nature, the quirkiness of the personalities of the wild animals that live around me, the awesome diversity and complexity of God's creation. I am energized by friends and creative people plus creative projects that get me so involved that I lose all sense of time and don't even get hungry (How about a book for the next diet craze "The Creative Project Diet"?).

4. If I joined the FaithChicks for coffee ... well, it better be some place that sells something other than green tea, coffee in all it's permutations, Italian sodas or mushroom tea. Soy latte? What is that? Whirled up soft tofu with a sprinkle of cinnamon on it to make you think it's a lukewarm milkshake or something? Sounds horrid. **shudder** I would either order a hot chocolate IF it is made with frothed milk and chocolate syrup (preferably a hot fudge type syrup and not from the can from the company with a town named after it with a spa where they will let you take a bath in chocolate and ride rides at the amusement park bearing the same name) and not from a packet of dry powder (I can do THAT at home); or I would order a Coke or bring my own. Sorry, I get my "Christian drug of choice" in a non-coffee version.

5. What version of the Bible do I read and what is my favorite verse?

I grew up on King James. Then my dad bought a Bible, newly published translation, at the County 4-H Fair (for $2!!!). It was quite a few years later that I started using that Bible. It was New Berkeley Version. To this day it is my favorite. Unfortunately, while in college I was leading a small group Bible study on campus and no one had that version. They all had NIV. I bought a New American Standard instead. That is my second favorite translation. Both of those Bibles have disappeared over the years, so I now have an inexpensive New Living Bible for reading and return to the KJV for deep study. Still trying to get a new copy of the New Berkeley / Berkeley translations (NB is New Testament, I think, and B is the Old Testament -- they were released for publication at different times almost a decade apart).

My favorite verse is one my husband loves too (though his favorite is a different one): So often the story of the Rich Young Ruler ends at "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The story does not end there. It continues two more verses, and ends here: "...With men it is impossible, BUT not with God; for with God all things are possible." My hubby is right, when Jesus uses "BUT," we better listen to Him as well as everyone supposedly listened to EF Hutton when he was "talking." So, my favorite verse is Mark 10:27. I hope it is yours too!